I Do... Until I Don't

'I DO...UNTIL I DON'T': Three and a Half Stars (Out of Five)

The new romantic comedy from actress turned writer/director Lake Bell, who also performed both duties on 2011's 'IN A WORLD...'. Bell also costars in the movie, with Ed Helms, Dolly Wells, Mary Steenburgen, Paul Reiser, Amber Heard and Wyatt Cenac. The story revolves around a bitter filmmaker, who's interviewing three couples in hopes of updating society's concept of marriage. The film has received mostly negative reviews from critics. I think it's a sweet, and mostly enjoyable movie.

The story revolves around an egotistical documentarian, named Vivian (Wells), who is hoping to make a hit documentary proving her cynical beliefs on marriage are true. She thinks marriage should only be a seven-year contract, with the option to renew. Vivian finds three different couples, all going through their own different relationship issues, to be her film's subjects. When the relationships turn out to be more positive than the filmmaker was hoping for, she tries to intervene and make things worse for them.

The movie is mildly funny, but most of all it's just uplifting and sweet. I've never had any problems with feel good films, I think they're a necessity for a happy life. This is one of those movies. There's not a lot more to it, but Bell does a decent enough job directing, and the cast is all good as well. I enjoyed watching it.

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disclaimer: some people identify as Cumberbitch; I definitely identify as Bell Boy

I can imagine why most of the reviews were pretty brutal: for an American comedy it's pretty subtle, perhaps because of how much Lake Bell has studied and worked in the UK. For a drama it's often times pretty corny, especially in the final 15-20 minutes where there's a whole lot of resolution with not a whole lot of story to accompany/account for it...

Still, I think it's beautifully made with nice performances of a bunch of really nice people, and perhaps because of the (quite human?) amount of corn, the resolution did feel nicely cathartic to me. Lovely cathartic even.

7.8 out of 10, to be more precise. Thanks Lake!

It is fun, witty, chatty, warm and acting is good! Most of you who rated it "1" must be young and single. I have seen "Shark meets Godzilla" movies with better rating. This is how life in a relationship is! And you get several couples in trouble here and you will surprise yourself. The movies will fool you on at least few stereotypes on this movie :-)

I think perhaps you have to be of a certain age group and/or married for an extended period of time to really appreciate this movie. A few laugh out loud moments. And, a few "I understand this" moments. This is an entertaining movie, not an award-winning one. Worth a watch.

The ending is a little iffy, but the key to liking it seems to be connecting  to the couples in the movie. Movie itself is about a woman doing a documentary that will confirm her theory that marriage is a sham. She interviews three couples: Lake Bell plays a woman whose so into the documentary filmmaker that she lies about how unhappy she is with her husband (played by Ed Helms who I really like in this one) to get into the documentary. Her sister (played by Amber Heard) also gets selected for the documentary because of her open relationship with the father of her child and the last relationship, which is my favorite of the bunch. A seasoned coupled played by Paul Riser and Mary Steenburgen who just entered a rough patch in their relationship. It's not as confrontational as you would expect about a comedy about couples having troubles with their relationship would be , but it does express the anxiety that comes with being in a committed relationship for a long time, and it does a nice job of that. Very enjoyable for my taste.

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